I'm a librarian, spinner, knitter! This is my blog for crafty things, updates to my shop and more.
You can check out my handspun yarns here - Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun Yarns and my hand knit items here - Kitty Grrlz Hand Knits

Sunday, July 26, 2009

New bamboo skeins, probably the last ones for awhile

Today I listed 6 new bamboo skeins which will probably be the last bamboo I list for awhile as I really don't have much fiber left and don't plan on another fiber order until August, or maybe even September. You can see the new bamboo skeins in my etsy shop in this section. These are the colors I listed today:

Also, my BAMBOO BOGO sale continues, and I am going to extend it into Monday, too. THIS SPECIAL now ENDS AT 5pm Central Time on Monday, July 27!! The special is this - buy one bamboo skein and get the second at HALF PRICE. Plus, Free Shipping in the USA on ALL orders, and $5 International shipping. You can check out the details, and the bamboo, in my etsy shop HERE.

What's in store for the week ahead? Probably a couple of single plys, maybe some art yarns, and maybe some Navajo 3plys or Squish-tastics. I'm not really sure, beyond the two single plys I have ready for today, so I'm just going to see which fiber strikes my fancy this week and spin that! :)

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Two new single ply yarns

As promised, pictures of the two new single ply yarns listed in my etsy shop today -


Top - Blackberry Sea - 190 yards - DK weight
Bottom - Orion - 146 yards - thinner Worsted weight

Also, I don't think i ever posted this mosaic, but here are some of the yarns I listed this past week -

short and sweet today as i've got to get some spinning done! :)

BAMBOO BOGO SALE!

I am having a sale this weekend in my etsy shop! It is on all BAMBOO SKEINS, and is BUY ONE at regular price and get the Second Skein HALF OFF. Sale goes through Sunday night. You can find more details in my etsy shop HERE.

I also have two new single ply yarn skeins to list later today, and I should have pictures later today, too.

Hope to have some new yarns to list tomorrow, too!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Back from the Fair & lots of new yarns!

So, another year of the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair has passed. This year, I went a little crazy and ended up buying bunches of Cloudlover fiber -

It was a lot of fun just pulling braids, piling them up and then figuring out which ones I absolutely HAD to have! (I couldn't buy them all no matter how badly I wanted to!). I also ended up spinning two of them while at the Fair. The mosaic above includes the "Tahiti" single ply I spun, and this mosaic includes the Navajo 3ply spun from her "Antoinette" colorway in merino wool and silk. This fiber will be spun up over the next few weeks.

This mosaic shows it, along with "Tahiti" and two FunctionArt/Batt-tacular yarns spun but not sold at the show. All four of these yarns are now listed on etsy. Here are some direct links:

"Antoinette" Navajo 3ply - 186 yards, DK
"Tahiti" Single ply - 176 yards, DK
"Fairy Tales" FunctionArt/Batt-tacular - 98 yards, 4.6 oz
"Midnight Princess" FunctionArt/Batt-tacular - 50 yards, 2.2 oz

I also listed some bamboo skeins today. You can see the new bamboo on etsy HERE. This mosaic shows the colors listed (Stormy Night, Stormy Sea, Razzleberry, and Cotton Candy Blues)

I also have 6 new art yarns to list, but think those will get added tomorrow. After that, my next new yarns will probably not be posted until the weekend. I'm thinking of adjusting my "work" schedule so that I spin during the week, take pictures on Saturday, and list on Sunday/Monday. We'll see how it goes this week. I do know that I'll most likely NOT be listing new yarns daily, like I have tried to in the past. I've also got some commissions to work on, but, look for new art yarns tomorrow!

Monday, July 13, 2009

New yarns and show preparation

These are the new yarns I've listed today and yesterday. Mostly Falkland single plys, and 4 bamboo skeins in color "Chocolate Berry Shine". Here are some direct links -

Kitty Singles - Rain Forest
Kitty Singles - Mandarin Crush
Kitty Singles - Storm
Kitty Singles - Bit o' Luck
Kitty Singles - Sugar Plum
Beautiful Bamboo - Chocolate Berry Shine 122 yards, 132 yards, 146 yards, 140 yards

These may be the last new yarns I list until after my upcoming show. This weekend I will be at the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair which is being held at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, Illinois. I will be in the same spot as last year - booth number 45 in the Gym area. The Fair is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Please check out the website for all the details!

This means I will be busy spinning this week so may not take the time to list items on etsy. It depends on how much I get done each day. Today, I'm working on the last of the bamboo and tomorrow will be some bright art yarns. Wednesday may be more art yarns or some other wool yarns (not sure yet). Either way, I'll have lots of yarns at the fiber fest and whatever doesn't sell will be listed on Sunday night and Monday.

Now, it's time to get spinning that bamboo!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

AWESOME! new yarns

Okay, I know I shouldn't be so bold as to say that about my own yarns, but every time I look at this batch today, I just think, AWESOME! Maybe it's the variety of colors, or the variety of fibers, or maybe it's that I spun two art yarns yesterday that were really spontaneous (usually I plan them out ahead of time and these two just happened!). For the singles, it could be that finally they seemed to be pretty well-balanced. Anyways, yesterday I spun wool and had a blast! Four new single ply skeins and two new art yarns - the art yarns spun from blended fiber batts. You can see all the new listings in my etsy shop. Here is the mosaic -

FunctionArt/Batt-tacular - Holly Berry Trail - spun from a LOOP Spontaneous Spinning Batt
FunctionArt/Batt-tacular - Aloha Tangerine Dream - spun from a batt from TerraBellaSpun
Kitty Singles - Ophelia's Midnight - spun from hand dyed merino wool from LimeGreenJelly
Kitty Singles - Vintage PolkaDot - spun from hand dyed Falkland wool from the Yarn Wench
Kitty Singles - Banded Iguana - spun from hand dyed merino wool and tencel blend dyed by DragonFibers (colorway of the same name)
Kitty Singles - Sunfish - spun from hand dyed BFL wool from FatCatKnits

Now, I've really got to get going on some more bamboo today, though I've got some more fun wool spins coming soon!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Marmalade Mint & Rain Forest Bamboo

Today I listed 8 skeins of bamboo. Four skeins of "Marmalade Mint" and 4 skeins of "Rain Forest". Marmalade Mint is a color I've spun before, though this batch is a bit darker and more saturated than previous versions. Rain Forest is a new color and this may be the only time that I will spin it, though I'm not sure. It is a mocha brown and chartreuse-y green color combination.

Marmalade Mint -


Rain Forest -


All can be found in my etsy shop HERE. (or check out the Beautiful Bamboo section here!)

Today, I'm hoping to spin up some more wool single plys. I've got some really soft merino, BFL, and merino/tencel that I'll get to for sure and then maybe some Falkland. I may also do a couple core-spun singles, or maybe some coils. Will wait and see how I feel later. Tomorrow it is back to the bamboo - I've got Citrus Dreams and more Spring Forest Trail to spin. Once I get through those colors it is back to the blues and pinks as next on my list is "Razzleberry" and "Chocolate Berry Shine". I've got quite a lot of bamboo lined up on the couch waiting to be spun.

Which means I should really get back to work now!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Monday, July 6, 2009

New yarns, finally!

Well, I finally have some new yarns listed in my etsy shop. I listed 5 bamboo skeins today and all are the last of those particular colors I'll have until my next bamboo fiber order (which may not be until August, I'm not sure.) Today, I'm spinning wool, but tomorrow it is back to the bamboo. I've got lots of it to spin as I get ready for the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair, which is coming up soon! For now, I'll still be listing all the yarns I spin on etsy, but next week I may be holding some of them back and those wouldn't be listed until after the show. But, enough rambling, here are the new skeins -

I've got to get to exercising and then back to spinning, so no direct links today, but you can find them all HERE. Also, just a note about shipping - my shipping charges are going up tomorrow (right now it is still Free USA Shipping and $5 International), but if you want to NEVER pay full price shipping again, sign up for my newsletter and get shipping discounts and other specials, too! You can sign up on the sidebar here on my blog or at the bottom of THIS PAGE.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Vegas musings . . . and Fourth of July sales

So, yes, I was on vacation. I don't know why I don't like to just come out and say it. Well, actually I do. I think it's because I don't feel like I *should* take vacation so don't like to admit it when I do! Plus, I know Las Vegas can bring out some strong emotions in people - some love it, some hate it - and I like to keep most of my blogging focused on business. But, since I was gone for a whole week, I want to post a few random musings from our trip.

First, though, let's start with us getting ready to leave -

Apparently, Bug really wanted to come with us. I had my suitcase out on the couch, waiting for those last few things to be added, when she jumped right in and made herself comfortable. She really missed us while we were gone - she didn't stop meowing for HOURS once we returned! Maybe she was just trying to tell me about HER exciting week?

We arrived in Las Vegas Thursday morning, which was unusual for us. We usually like to go Sunday through Thursday - leaving late on Sunday night and taking the red-eye/overnight flight on Thursday - so are there for about 4 days. For some reason we couldn't find cheap enough airfare this year, so we ended up going Thursday - Tuesday, which amounted to 2 more days than normal! (The airfare WAS cheap, but we really prefer Sun-Thur.) Another note about flying - I was *VERY* disappointed to learn that you don't get the fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies on Midwest flights until AFTER 10am! Our flight was earlier than that, so no cookies. :(

In the airport before leaving, I bought a couple of puzzle books, mostly word searches. I thought they'd give me something to do on the flight and also take up time when I just wanted to hang out in the room. It was a smart move and they definitely ended up "saving" me some money! The more time I spent in the room, the less time I had to lose money!

And, since money was an issue, I didn't take as much as I have in the past, and tried to regulate it better. That first day, I don't think I played much at all. After lunch, and check-in, I played a little and then Scott did a poker tournament. Usually when he plays poker, I also hang out in the room. Not that I couldn't play slots, but I was determined to rest a lot on this trip, so I did just that! Puzzles and napping . . . not a bad way to spend the first day. We also had free internet in our room, so I brought the laptop. This really made me less anxious because at least I could check in every day just to make sure all was well in Kitty Grrlz land.

One of the main reasons we go to Vegas is so that Scott can play poker. Going during this time, lots of places have tournaments that would get you into the big World Series of Poker which I think starts soon. So, he plays poker, and I play slots. The funny thing is, he tends to be very unlucky in poker (plays really well and ends up losing because someone else gets lucky on the river!) BUT he is SO LUCKY when it comes to slots!!!! He won TWO small progressive jackpots while we were there!!! They were both won on the SAME kind of machine I won on last year, and that he won on two years ago. He hit one early on so was able to do a bigger tournament as well as a couple smaller ones, and the other one later so was able to come home with it. He also gave me a little money since by the weekend I was a bit behind where I wanted to be. This also coincided with our "bum around the Strip" day. See, we usually stay downtown, but always venture up to the Strip at least once. We went to the Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood (our favorite buffet), and then went to a couple casinos. We weren't really feeling it, though.

BUT, before we had left that morning (this was Sunday), I made a couple bets on the NASCAR race that was happening that day. Scott noticed that Joey Logano's odds were crazy - 80 to 1! - so we bet on him. A $5 bet. I usually do lots of these sports bets before we go - I take all the crazy long shots on football and hockey, and a few on baseball and basketball. The thing is, the last two years I haven't had money to make the bets. It always becomes one of those, "If I win, I'll make some sports bets." Of all the crazy sports bets I've ever made, I've not won a single one of them. Oh, I've come close - I had the Rays last year for the World Series and have also had teams bet on for the superbowl get as close as the playoffs. But, no winnings.

Until NOW! Joey Logano actually WON that race and I finally won a long-shot sports bet!!!! Woohoo!!! Thank you, Joey Logano, and Mother Nature (since rain definitely played a factor in the victory.)

That win really helped as then I was able to get through the last few days way ahead of my "daily limit" and thus also came home with money!! In my opinion, any time you can come back from Vegas with money in your pocket, you win!

I also have to thank Elvis and Star Wars! Those last couple days, I played alot of Star Wars - they have different machines and I was playing the one for the first movie, and it was doing things I've never seen before - hitting 5 of a kind all over the place! I think I got more out of that machine than I got from the sports bet!

With slots, if we stay disciplined, we have a system. Start with a certain amount, if you win and get over what you started with, cash out, pocket the winnings and put the original amount back in. IF you keep winning (which i was doing for awhile), you WILL come out ahead - or at least even - because you are still always working off of that original amount, with the "winnings" pocketed.

The thing is knowing when to stop. Unfortunately, I was chasing a bit by the end, so didn't end up with as much as I could have, but still feel I ended up ahead.

Then, there was Elvis. One of our favorite places downtown is this little corner slot place called Mermaids. They have girls out front in tropical costumes, and they give you beads as you walk in. They also have the most attentive waitresses - if you want to drink, go to Mermaids. We are usually barely through the door before they are there asking if you want anything. This can be a bad thing, though, as sometimes the goal is to NOT drink. They also have .99 hot dogs and deep-fried twinkies and oreos! They are also the only place left downtown (I think) that has slot machines that actually take and give coins! There is just something so cool about the sound of hundreds of quarters cascading out of a machine!! We also like it, because it can take up more time - cash out and feed those coins in one by one! Anyways, there was an ELVIS machine there that seemed to be doing pretty well, hitting a lot of the bonuses and just paying out alot. Usually, though, there was someone playing it, except for the last day. We finally got a chance to sit down at it. I put in 3 quarters for a max-bet spin and got the bonus right away! By the time I was done I won at least $200 on that machine alone. Once it started to slow down on the bonuses, though, I had to stop.

A few more comments on Mermaids - I do love it, but prefer it during the day. At night it can get a little crowded/rowdy and really loud. My favorite time for Mermaids is mid-day and early afternoon. And, another reason we like it is because they remember us - the waitresses know what we want and the manager even recognizes us from year to year. Early on, we were even mistaken for locals, which I kind of like. It has a lot more "corner bar" feel to it than "tourist strip" and that is what I prefer.

It's probably why I like downtown/Fremont Street in general better than the Strip. The Strip can just be so huge and intimidating and sometimes crowded. And, since we do tend to go in the summer when it is so hot (100+ degrees every day we were there, I think), downtown is nice since you are almost always walking in casinos or under the Fremont Street Experience canopy (that's the light show - this summer they are doing a 60s theme and also had a Michael Jackson tribute up. the only one we watched, though, was the "American Pie" one since that is one of my favorite songs!)

Anyways, we capped off the week with a bit of Pai Gow Poker. We had sat in on the Craps and Pai Gow Poker free lessons the first day we were there, but then never ended up playing either, until that last day. We played a bit, but didn't do very well. I may play a little more next time we go, though, just because it is something different than slots.

We ended up leaving for the airport sooner than usual as neither of us really wanted to spend or lose any more money. We got there 4 hours before our flight!?! It was a long 4 hours since we were both exhausted and just wanted to be home. But, before we knew it, we were on the plane getting our fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies! (Seriously, I love that they do this and I know it's just 2 cookies, but it is way better than peanuts!) Our flight arrived half an hour early and we were home by 6am. Bug sure was happy to see us, and while I am *definitely* happy to be home, I'm also not quite ready to get back to reality. I've got a few things I'm going to try and do the next couple of days, but I probably won't get back to my "regular" schedule until Sunday or Monday.

Look for new yarns to start appearing in my etsy shop on Monday, hopefully!

In the meantime, though, I am extending my shipping specials and sale sections through the holiday weekend as part of the Fourth of July Sale on etsy.

Kitty Grrlz Hand Spun Yarns - SALE SECTION HERE
Kitty Grrlz Hand Knit Items - SALE SECTION HERE

Plus, Free Shipping in the USA and $5 International Shipping.

All specials will end on Monday, though!

AddThis